Fireworks
by Snow Tigra
Summary: Summer jobs. Summer shows. ShikaChou. Fluff. Oneshot.


Title: Fireworks  
Author: Snow Tigra  
Pairings: Shikamaru & Chouji  
Warnings: Summer jobs and summer shows. Fluff. One-shot. 

"Small Pepsi please."

Fill the drink cup. Not too much ice. Put on the top and don't forget to give them the straw.

"I'll have a hot dog and some funnel cake."

Use the tongs to lift the hotdog out of the pot. Don't tear your plastic gloves. Ketchup and mustard on the side. Tell the customer where the condiments are. Funnel cake on the plate. Not too much powdered sugar. No they can't pay for more or we'll run out. Hand them the plate. Don't forget the napkins.

"Large beer."

Check ID. Rub your finger over the picture to make sure it's not a fake. Fill the drink cup. Make sure you use the clear ones. Don't make a face even if you think beer tastes bad. Hand over the cup. Put money in the register. Move to the next customer and make sure you smile.

Chouji felt his mental functions shutting down from the strain. Two days at his new job and already he was freaking out. There was so much to remember, so many things to keep track of, and the customers just never stopped coming. And this was the slow time of the day…

The floor underfoot was sticky and the large black pads that were supposed to make his feet feel better were obviously too old to do much else then cover the floor. His coworkers joked as they served each of the customers, making comments about the girls in bathing suits and men in swimming trunks. They themselves were wearing tank tops and shorts and sported golden tans from perfect summers to match perfect bodies. Chouji concentrated on work more to forget his large wrinkly t-shirt and his not-so-perfect body which he was sure they commented on when he was gone. But it was a summer job… and he needed the money.

The water park was closing now, with the sun set and the moon peeking up in the sky. The large flood lights were on, guiding people to the gates as they grabbed their towels and left their chairs sprawled about with empty bottles of sun-block or tanning oil or whatever was in style this year.

Soon the park would be closed. Then Chouji could move his wearily legs and help clean up the garbage which had accumulated and then drag himself home on the late bus to crash into bed. Summer was becoming a blur of work, but this money would put him through culinary school and that's what he wanted. Just one more month…

The last of the customers finally turned their backs to the concession stand and Chouji ducked out before one could come back for a last minute box of nachos. Time to clean. Rounding the concession stand from the back door he picked up one of the flimsy brooms and started to sweep up the garbage and candy wrappers and … various swimsuit parts from the tiled ground.

Ahh yes, what a glarmous job he had. Still, he reflected, there were other jobs that were a lot worse.

Beyond him, he heard the noise and yelling of a couple of the other workers cleaning. They were actually playing, splashing in the water after hours, before it got soaked in it's overdose of smelly chlorine to kill anything left behind. T-shirts lost and swimsuits revealed, the others played around as if they owned the entire water park, and in a way they did as soon as the gates closed. At least the after hours work was light and happy.

An annoyed sound came from beside Chouji and he looked up, so ready to apologize for doing something wrong, but instead he found no one was glaring at him. Instead, one of the boys was standing next to a slide, washing it with one of the long handled mops and smelly bleach cleaners to keep it sanitary. He wore cut off jeans and a button down white shirt, that was completely soaked and now transparent. His hair was tied in a messy ponytail at the top of his head in a futile attempt to keep it dry and out of his face. Though that had failed thanks to the two girls with a water hose a few feet away.

Well, that explained the annoyed sound and the fact that his shirt was now so wonderfully wet.

Chouji caught himself staring and quickly went back to concentrating on work, a small blush crossing his cheeks.

Put down the dustpan-on-a-pole. Sweep in garbage. Repeat. Move chair out of the way. Fold chair and restack. Repeat. Don't look at him. Don't look at him. Don't look at him.

He was hot.

He was the kind of boy who girls dreamed of looking into the girl's locker room or showing up there to fix the plumbing. He had muscles, but they weren't overly jock-like huge, and he had tanned skin, but it was a working tan and it wasn't deliberate. He worked in flip-flops, cleaning each of the slides with the bleachy concoction to meet the state's health codes, completely ignoring the girls and guys who stared at him and whispered more locker room fantasies to each other. Locker room fantasies evolved into 'rescue me from a stalled ferris wheel' fantasies, then to 'give me mouth to mouth because I faked drowning' and of course to 'take me home because I got sunburn and baby me all night.'

Chouji wondered if things like that ever happened.

Sure they did… to the other guys and girls who belonged in places like this. Who could wear string bikinis and small swimming trunks. Who looked good halfway naked. Not little pudgy people like him.

And just like that the nightly depression struck. It hit him nightly from the swimsuits and perfect bodies, the chatty girls and laughing guys. And the fact that he always seemed to be the only one on the late bus home because everyone else was out to parties or carpooling. No one cared to invite him.

Chouji left the broom resting against the side of the building and circled it, sitting down near the lazy river. Taking off his tennis shoes he dangled his feet in the water, watching the remaining tubes that hadn't been caught float by.

Minutes passed and no one came looking for him.

He knew no one would notice him gone.

No one ever did.

It wasn't that Chouji had particularly low self esteem, he tried, really. There were just times, more often now in the summer, when his non-logical mind got the better of him and all he wanted to do was curl up in a corner and hide from everything. Life would be grand if he never had to leave his house and could just cook for the rest of time, but cooking was no fun when there was no one to cook for.

And summer after summer of no one paying attention to him beyond the required friendly waves and smiles left Chouji wondering what was the point of cooking anyway. Maybe he should have just gone into computers. Anyone could get jobs in computers. Then he never would need to leave his little one bedroom apartment.

And still no one would ever care.

Chouji closed his eyes and kicked at the water, his depression not leaving, but instead just glaring back at him like his reflection which always seemed to fade back into view as the water calmed down.

Then there were footsteps beside him and the same boy from before stepped around the building. Chouji looked up and watched as the boy stopped and looked at him, as if surprised to find someone else there, then shrugged and walked over to sit down.

"I can leave," Chouji said, already moving. He winced at how depressed his voice sounded but he couldn't help it.

"Naw," the boy shrugged again and leaned back, "just don't advertise this spot to your friends. I like it quiet and not so crowded."

"Oh. Sure, I won't." Chouji resumed sitting at the edge, occasionally kicking at the water, while the boy next to him laid back on the fake grass and stared up at the star filled sky. It was a perfectly clear night, and actually kind of peaceful thanks to the building blocking out the sound from the others who were cleaning the park.

Beyond the lazy river was a fence and a line of bushes, blocking off the park from the rest of the world. Chouji knew the zoo was on the other side of the fence and they were probably closing down soon too. Soon everything would be closed and turned off and he'd be returning home to his empty apartment, again.

"You come back here for the lights?"

Chouji blinked and looked at the boy. "The what?"

A rare smile crossed the boy's lips and he pointed up at the sky above them. "Just wait for it, you'll see them. Though you might was to lay down, it makes it easier to see them."

"What's… them?"

"Trust me."

Chouji shrugged and figured there was really nothing to it, so he laid back across the grass as well, just watching the sky. It only took a few moments for him to see what the boy meant.

From where they lay, back in the quiet area of the water part, Chouji could see the sky and the large Omni-theater building looming over half his vision. Both of them lay nestled between that building and the locker room as a faint sound of music started, playing one of those familiar tunes that everyone seemed born knowing but never actually remembered hearing before in their life. A muffled cheer filled the air from the people in the zoo park waiting for the show to start. Then, moments later, laser lights started dancing over the white side of the building.

Shapes were created in blues, greens and reds, dancing back and forth to the music Chouji couldn't quite make out. Everything moved to the beat and Chouji found himself smiling as he watched the dance of colors, all creating the laser light show which the zoo was known for during the summer. This one seemed to have a jungle theme, and the laser trees and bugs looked like neon signs doing aerobics to keep their light bulbs thin. The images made no sense without the music and Chouji soon found himself giggling softly with delight as the images seemingly appeared at random. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been to one of these shows and it had never really occurred to him to go to one after he moved into his own place. There was always some new recipe he wanted to try instead.

The laser movements because faster and more sporadic and he could hear the base of the music now, thumping through the ground. A large finale was coming and Chouji felt the familiar feeling of awe as a child, waiting with held breath for the final burst of light.

And then the fireworks were shot off.

Light filled the sky and Chouji's eyes widened, watching the bursts of color cover everything around them. Loud, deafening noises lasted for a second, and then the show was over, leaving impressions behind Chouji's eyelids as he blinked. Smiling to himself he closed his eyes and relived the fireworks show against the back of his eyes, watching the colors flash in negative light over his mind.

Something soft brushed against his lips, startling him to open his eyes and freeze.

The boy was leaning over him, smiling softly with the dim light from the water reflecting in his eyes.

Chouji stopped breathing, realizing the boy had just kissed him.

Chouji felt his lungs implode as the boy kissed him again.

"You're cute."

Did he honestly just say that? Did this boy who looked, as far as Chouji was concerned, perfect from head to toe honestly just tell him he thought he was cute? Chouji couldn't breathe and he couldn't find the words to even express what was racing through his mind at a million miles per hour. The boy didn't smell like he'd been drinking or doing drugs. He wasn't blind. There was no one else here he could have been talking to. And yet he'd still called Chouji cute.

The boy stood up, the small smirk not leaving his lips as he brushed himself off and wandered back around the building, his eyes lingering on Chouji for a second.

"Wait!" Chouji's voice was strangled and it scratched as he forced it out, sitting up and facing the boy who stopped at the corner.

"I'm Shikamaru."

There were a million things he wanted to ask him, a hundred things to talk about and at least a dozen reasons to not believe that any of this was happening. But all of that never made it out of him mouth. Instead, he asked one of the strangest, possibly most embarrassing questions he could have.

"Do you like cookies?"

The boy blinked and turned, seeming to consider the question. Then another rare smile crossed his face. "Yeah, I do."

Chouji responded with his own bright smile, as if that was the most perfect answer in the world. The boy liked cookies. That made everything perfect.

Not a single other word passed between them and the boy soon walked off, heading home with the rest of the workers now that their shifts were done.

For the first time in his life, Chouji rode the late bus home wide away, shifting in his seat. When he got home, he never ever glanced at his bed. Instead he went right to the kitchen and began cooking.

He couldn't wait to go to work tomorrow morning. And he couldn't wait for the midnight show, where he'd share his best homemade cookies with his new friend. And maybe then, he would have the courage to actually tell him his name.


End file.
